Courtney Wendleton's Blog, page 17

Steps to Make Your Minor Characters Exciting

A Writer's Path

by John Briggs

I’ve known plenty of authors who spend hours creating character sheets for their main characters, worry about what their shoe size is, favorite color, and the name of their childhood pet. They rewrite them to seem more alive, but forget that their minor characters, even those who appear for several pages, have personalities, too.

Remember, your story may have minor characters, but no one believes they are a minor character in their own life. Everyone has a personality.

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Writing Time: Selfish, Selfless, or Saving Others?

A Writer's Path

by Christopher Slater

I will start out by saying that this is a perfect example of what is meant by the phrase, “Doctor, heal thyself!” I am the absolute worst at not following this advice. Of course, that is probably why I have joked with my students that my name should be a verb meaning “to screw up badly.” So if you ever heard me say “I Slatered myself by not listening to my own advice,” then you can understand what I mean.

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#BookReview: Entwined Secrets Bk 1

Started off rocky, then got pretty good. The ending….got a little weird. The wolves seem to be the anthropomorphic version in some places, but leads to be an actual wolf in others. Some other things didn’t make much sense, so by the end of the book I am more confused and on the fence about how I feel about it.

Source: #BookReview: Entwined Secrets Bk 1

Playing Matchmaker: The Art of Writing a Good Couple

A Writer's Path

by Andrea Lundgren

I’ve been dealing with writing romance lately. Not the genre but the plot component, the seemingly inescapable phenomenon that crops up when writing fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, and just about any other genre, provided you have a few single characters floating around.

And I’ve written about how authors can woefully get a romance wrong before, and about a writer’s recipe to marrying off the wrong couples. Making a good, solid match isn’t easy, because we authors often have a lot on our minds, especially if our novel isn’t primarily or solely a romance. We’re thinking about the rest of the plot, the villains, the action or adventure. We don’t have that much time to worry about which character is right for whom…and why.

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New Year’s Resolutions

It’s that time of year again where we all make promises for the next year that we only keep for a month at most (Good for you for the very rare few that actually accomplish them!).

So what am I promising this year? I am going to bring back the one from last year, I am going to attempt to not add more books to my To Be Read List. Which is entering the new year at a whopping 5005 books. That resolution last a good six months in 2016, but then I broke it. I may let myself add one book for every two or three I read that way I’m not breaking the promise but at the same time paying homage to my addiction.

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Because my TBR list is still so long, I am going to attempt to lower it again. 2016 I was crazy and started the year with a goal of reading 75 books, come July I had read 60+. I upped the goal to 150 and barely squeaked by. I am thinking that a hard 80 will be good for 2017. I won’t change the number, but if I go over YAY! If I am under, I will read until 2359 December 31st to put in my best effort. Hopefully this will also lead to more book reviews and less of me just rating them with stars, which is a bad habit I keep falling into. I’d like to do a book or two a day, but I don’t have time for that unfortunately.

I need to keep working on my health. As ya’ll know I was diagnosed with Diabetes this year and my doctor and I are working to get it under control but it’s not working that well. It is better than it was but still too high. So that means working on diet and exercise. Yay for Pokemon Go, the app that is going to be a big help…I just need to figure out the the difference between kilometres and miles (WHY can’t Niantic measure in miles? Or America jump on board with like every other country in the world?)

I also need to get better at keeping track of my blood sugar numbers and taking the medicine. Well I take the medicine, I just have the small issue of remembering if I took both doses or if I still have one I need to take. One of these days I’m going to overdose on either my happy pills (risk of seizure) or my Metformin (dropping sugar too low and getting sick) and be in some bigger trouble.

I have also worked out a new schedule for my writing, I just need to keep it in place. I have two books that I need to go through and edit one more time before publishing but I still have 25+ currently in progress. This year I would like to see those two published and (realistically) one more, or (optimistically) two more.

I have a new system in place so I can keep better track of the amount of words I write throughout the year. I would like to write more than I did in 2016. I only started doing this in late October, so since then I have written a little over 115,000 words in three months. So with three NaNoWriMos (50,000 a piece) and the rest of the year, I’m thinking of a goal for 200,000. I don’t think that is too much to ask considering NaNoWriMo total is 150,000 alone and 20+ books to write, it should be easy…or at least challenging. Just not too crazy, right? It’s only 548 words a day, I may up it. I’ve been writing close to 1666 a day since November and if I didn’t make that quota, I shift the remainder to the next day. I don’t know now, I’ll think about it and get back to you.

I also have an idea for how I will keep myself accountable, I’m going to put the numbers of how many books I have left in my TBR and how many words I have written at the top or bottom of every blog post I make. It may work and it may not, but it can only help.

Hoping to write more blog posts. I think I started 2016 off well, but then it tapered down to like nothing. I want to work on more of the #FindingFamily FanFiction (am having issues with one of the characters not cooperating) as well as I psychotically have another FanFiction in mind that I have so many chapters mapped out (50+) that I will be posting once I get them started.

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I would also like to start updating my Author Page more and maybe spend less time on Facebook, but I also have the Author Page there that pretty much runs itself.

Writing a Series Vs. Writing a Novel

A Writer's Path

by Lindsey Richardson

I am finally writing the post I’ve been wanting to write ever since I first started Clara and Claire. For those of you who are planning to write either, I’m hoping this can be helpful. There’s a lot of different ways I thought of tackling this, and mind you I’m going to include a lot of personal experience with this too. I think that’s a big part of writing. There’s no right way of doing something, but everyone’s experience varies.

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3 Ways Your Beta Readers Are Right (and Oh-So-Wrong)

A Writer's Path

by Kelsie Engen

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that beta readers are the best and worst thing to happen to an author.

On the one hand, it’s fantastic that you have readers already willing to read your work–and it’s not even published yet! That’s amazing. Be sure to send them a thank you.

But then the feedback starts rolling in. And all of a sudden, you’ve got conflicting opinions. One reader adores your main character while the other hates everything about them–could hardly get through the first fifty pages, the mc was so bad.

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This is the Year You Write Your Novel

Kate M. Colby

If you’re reading this, chances are you want to write a novel. Whether it’s a goal you’re actively working toward, a regular New Year’s resolution, or the biggest item on your bucket list, you’re in good company. Millions of people desire to tell their stories … and yet only a small percentage of them actually do. Whatever the reason — fear, procrastination, lack of inspiration — most novels die unfinished in the minds and hard drives of aspiring authors like you.

I’ll say it again: you’re not alone. I’ve been there, too.

Ever since I learned to write, I wanted to be a storyteller. In second grade, I realized that I could write books for a living when I grew up, and from that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. However, even with my career goal set, it took me years to write my…

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Writers: Judge Yourself by Your Own Standards

A Writer's Path

by Kate M. Colby

‘Comparisonitis’ is the most infectious disease in the writer community. Can you blame us? When John’s book has 100 five-star reviews and Jane has written six books this year and Joe has landed a major publishing deal, it’s difficult not to feel jealous and shame yourself for what you are/aren’t accomplishing.

Here’s your gentle reminder to CUT. IT. OUT.

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Writers: Judge Yourself by Your Own Standards

A Writer's Path

by Kate M. Colby

‘Comparisonitis’ is the most infectious disease in the writer community. Can you blame us? When John’s book has 100 five-star reviews and Jane has written six books this year and Joe has landed a major publishing deal, it’s difficult not to feel jealous and shame yourself for what you are/aren’t accomplishing.

Here’s your gentle reminder to CUT. IT. OUT.

View original post 735 more words